People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist)

Vol. XXXIII

No.
29

July
19, 2009

G8 Summit:
Protect India
In The Real World

MUCH
euphoria was generated at the presence of prime minister Manmohan Singh
at the
G-8 summit held in L’Aquila, Italy.
India
was seen as sitting at the
world’s ‘high table’. The G-8 + G-5 summit, unfortunately, unfolded a
different
story as far as India
is concerned. The prime minister had a taste of the real world, where
the
aspirations for a permanent place on the ‘high table’ appeared more
distant.
This was true with respect to the three main issues discussed there.

The
first big jolt for India
came with the decision of the G-8 to adopt new rules for the transfer
of
nuclear enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies and equipments
for
non-NPT signatory countries like India. This, in one stroke,
declared that the promised full civilian nuclear co-operation advocated
by India
as the
core of the Indo-US nuclear deal was simply not forthcoming. This
resoundingly
vindicates the objections to the deal raised by the CPI (M) and Left.
The 123
agreement with the US
spoke
of conditional transfer of technology to India
under the clause, “right of return” of equipment imported from the USA in the event of the US
terminating
the 123 agreement. Further, the reprocessing of spent fuel was to be
done in a
completely new safe-guarded facility, whose agreements and arrangements
are yet
to be negotiated.

India on its side is arguing that the waiver given
by the
nuclear suppliers group (NSG) is unconditional for the transfer of such
technology and equipment. India
therefore, can access these materials from other countries like Russia and France.
This UPA 2 government
clearly continues to remain in an illusion. The NSG, in the light of
this G-8
decision is now discussing new rules for the transfer of technology and
is
obviously under US pressure to adhere to the NPT conditionality. Thus
putting a
question mark on India’s
ability to access these technologies and equipments from either France or Russia, both being members
of G-8
and NSG. Clearly US pressures on India to be signatories to
both the
CTBT and the FMCT will now further mount. All these developments only
confirm
the apprehensions aired by the CPI (M) and the Left on the dangers for
our
country’s sovereignty by entering into the Indo-US nuclear deal.

On
the question of response to the unprecedented challenge that the world
faces
due to climate change, the Indian position of not accepting common
targets for
emission reductions for both the developed and the developing world has
not
found much acceptance. India
has rightly been arguing that the developed countries will have to
reduce their
carbon emissions at much higher levels than the developing countries.
For, it
is the developed countries, whose industrialisation patterns have
adversely
affected the world’s climate. Further the prime minister has correctly
mentioned that India’s
acceptance of such targets would adversely affect the growth process
which is
very important for eliminating poverty and backwardness in the
developing
countries. The forthcoming conference of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate
Change at Copenhagen
in December must, according to our prime minister be “ambitious,
comprehensive
but above all, equitable.” This means that the developed countries must
reduce
their emissions by 40 percent by 2020 while the developed countries are
allowed
to do so by 2050. The challenge thus continues to remain.

There,
however, were expressions of niceties at the summit. President Obama
had a
separate individual meeting with prime minister Manmohan Singh. Both
invited each
other to their countries and both accepted. President Obama also
broadly
endorsed India’s
call for urgent reforms in the United Nations. While India
seeks a place amongst the permanent members of the Security Council,
this is
not the interpretation of “reforms” as far as the USA is
concerned.

All
in all, India
has come face to face with the new harsh realities of the world. All
the
apprehensions that the CPI (M) and the Left have been voicing regarding
the
surrender of India’s
sovereignty, as a consequence of the Indo-US nuclear deal are being
reconfirmed
at every step. The struggle to prevent India
from succumbing to such US
pressures and there by to protect India’s sovereignty, will
have to
be further intensified in the days to come.